Let's have a little fun teeg.>Post a short fantasy cliché or trope, something that exists in every bullshit campaign>Others ad a short twist to it>the goal is to make the cliché as interesting as possible

>>57230117>adventurer's guild"Adventurers" on their own are seen as horrific to ordinary townspeople - wanderers with ferocious power that leave destruction and death nearly everywhere they go. Adventurers' guilds are essentially "adventurer towns" - societies made by, for, and of adventurers, as nearly everyone else sees them as monsters.

>>57230231>corrupt vizierThe king or empress or whoever is in charge is completely aware of the corrupt nature of their advisor, but keeps them around anyway because they're efficient and useful in that way that only a psychopath or cold pragmatist can be and sometimes that's the point of view you need when dealing with equally merciless reality.

>20+ different races of non-human humanoids existing equally with humans and being commonplace.Hard mode, explain the furry races without resorting to "A wizard/crazy god did it!"

>>57230439>There are super powerful wizards sitting in a tower somewhere, but they can't help and the sniveling level 1 retards have to save the world instead.

Use of magic on a large scale intrinsically weakens the barrier between planes and invites even worse tragedy. Every mage who comes close to unlocking the big secrets of magic either realizes this or sows their own doom.

>Magical healing exists but some reason people still practice herbalism and non-magical means of healing.Hard mode: None of that "magic is rare" shit. If a level 1 PC can learn it, governments can train enough healers to form a healthcare infastructure.

>>57230463>the bad guy you just defeated was holding back a bigger threat, you fool!

The bad guy you just defeated wasn't actually holding back a bigger threat. He was just a proxy or "scout" for the bigger threat. And though you may have defeated this weaker version, the true evil has found the defenses of your realm... lacking.

>>57230475>Magical healing exists but some reason people still practice herbalism and non-magical means of healing.Magical healing is basically crazy gluing a person together and numbing their pain so they can still function, only actual long term care or natural healing can fully mend the body.

>>57230406>20+ different races of non-human humanoids existing equally with humans and being commonplace.Magical radiation is rampant throughout the land and the various beast-folk are random mutations, as are monsters.

>>57230475>Magical healing exists but some reason people still practice herbalism and non-magical means of healing.All magic comes from the Other Planes. When a wizard casts a fireball he basically opens a very small portal to the dimensions of magic. This usually isn't an issue, but when handling biological materials, the Other Planes send their weird monster organs and mutations. Basically magic healing is very risky because it's fusing the body with otherworldly beings.

>>57230475>There are super powerful wizards sitting in a tower somewhere, but they can't help and the sniveling level 1 retards have to save the world instead.

Magic is just probability manipulation, the sniveling level ones are discreet pawns in a chess match between the wizards and the forces of evil, chosen specifically because they were to pathetic to be taken notice of.

>>57230561>Only the chosen one can stop *insert plot device here*, no matter how powerful everyone else is compared to them.

The prophecy mentions a "chosen one", but really the god who made the prophecy didn't have anyone in mind and whoever ends up saving the world just conveniently gets the title afterwards. All according to plan. Fucking Azura

>Retired Adventurers never being Kings or anyone important despite basically being demi-gods.

>>57230475Magic healing pumps life juice energy into any living thing in its area of effect. This creates a serious problem if the wound is infected. If not treated properly, you'll be juicing up some super bacteria in your patient.

>>57230605The only reason adventurers get to demi-god level is because of enchantments, demon pacts and magical items. Everything magical has a price and at the end of the adventure, the magic starts to collect its debt. Demi-god adventurers end up sitting in cave, bound to the spirits of their magical axe.

The bandits are all "undesireables" from the Kingdom's ethnic purges, and the forest is the only place they can avoid being hunted down by the Kingdom's enforcers as they stockpile stolen weapons and supplies for their upcomming coup.

>>57230605Adventurers don't just have wanderlust, they're literally cursed with it and unable to settle down. It's a curse that a lich levied against the entire world which has existed for millennium -- adventuring opens up the gateway to great riches and thrill-seeking, but in exchange, your body will literally wander off without your consent controlled by his magics if you stay in one spot for too long. Attempts to cheat it such as ruling by proxy or puppet and sending messages to the person DO occur, but the superstition nature of many cultures in regard to the curse makes it a dangerous game, and fear-driven peasant rebellions are almost always to be expected in the unfortunate event of the shady deal coming to light.

>>57230640>The forest is filled with bandits.Magic has led to a post-scarcity environment where hardly anyone needs to lift a finger, but societal values have yet to catch up and wealth and food distribution doesn't account for the unemployed and underemployed masses. The forest full of bandits make their livings preying off a tiny village that overproduces everything it makes, but the villagers are still angry about their stuff being stolen, so they send adventurers to deal with the bandits, paying with wheelbarrows of deflated gold pieces.

>>57230702>Orcs are always chaotic evil because reasons.Orcs were created to oppose the LG Kingdom of Heaven. The angels have decided to wipe the slate and replace people with a more perfect race, but guess who has your back against the birdies. It's 'ya orc boys here to fight for freedom and eat baby cherubs.

The vizier is the good guy pulling strings to prevent the decandent shithole of a caliphate from collapsing so it could oppose a coming invasion that only the vizier knows about, he is calculating, manipulative and secretive but so is everyone else at the court, he is just better at it

No one can ever turn back from the call of adventure. The pull is too strong, even if youre a crippled 80 year old man you will want to keep walking on on all fours, to see whats beyond the next hilltop, to meet new friends and find ever rarer riches. Powerful adventurers eventually disappear beyond the borders of the known world to wander unknown lands and become myths.

Orcs are the mad max style survivors of a great magitek empire of knowlegde, hope and progress. They are all missshapen and mangled because of biotek expriments gone wrong. Their mental faculties are actually all right, they just rather get shitfaced, get into scraps and pillage because its easier than facing the grim reality and they would rather just party on till extinction.

>>57231288The treasure is a totem fabricated by a cursed people who are doomed to stay on this mortal plane for eternity after death instead of ascending to the heavens. The totem gives them a modicum of peace. Taking it away unleashes the curse.

>>57230117It's less a guild and more a form of registration, anyone who starts getting too strong must sign up so they can easily be tracked and a closer eye kept on them. Any who resist or refuse are shunned from the kingdoms and put down as soon as possible.

>>57230231The vizier is entirely corrupt through and through, however they have such a strong loyalty to the ruler personally that every move they make is done to protect them and theirs. They are just willing commit atrocities, make deals with anything and leverage their position to indulge themselves in teh process.

>>57230406They are mutations caused on purpose in an attempt to create the next step in human evolution. It was and is entirely sanctioned by the governments of the world utilizing materials that cause mutations and attempting to guide it through scientific means.

>>57230439The level ones are setting out to save the world from those wizards.

>>57230463The bad guy was an advanced scout sent to the plane to see if it was worth conquering. They had been sending back messages that it wasn't because they want to take it for themselves, but now that the messages have stopped another force is coming to investigate.

>>57230475Magic healing comes at a huge cost to the body and it's natural processes. Over use can easily lead to mutations or tumors as these processes are interrupted and in a way corrupted by the magic. Thus herbalism and non magical means of healing are safer and used in conjunction with magical healing for certain cases but it is not recommend for long term use.

>>57230561There is no actual chosen one, anyone can stop the plot device but those who don't want it stop have spread falsehood trying to discourage any from trying.

>>57230605All are sent to a paradise that none may return from, if they do not wish to go the guardians of such place themselves move to eliminate them, any who die have their soul bound to such a guardian to keep telling cycle going.

>>57230640The bandits are actually a resistance forming against an invading army, the army simply has enough spies to make others believe they are just that.

>>57230657The metal is actually corrupted by forces that live near it underground. These forces latch onto the metals and feed off the greed they spawn, rewarding those who follow the call by making them feel happy.

>>57230702They were once a great civilization that reached too far into the outer realm and became tainted by it. Even now the taint passes down through their genes causing a bloodlust and borderline madness.

>>57231288The treasure was actually put there to trap their entire civilization in stasis.

>>57232752Their greed is spawned due to a curse that forces them to horde wealth in order to survive. As they grow older their wealth must grow in proportion or they are afflicted by this curse and twist into a shadow dragon who only desires destruction.

>>57232752So they moved from hording physical treasure into diversified market investments. Their work in pharmaceuticals has had virtuous knights attempted to stop them for years, but their investment in paying off the king's house means they are shielded from the law.

>>57235282>>Caravans that travel along a certain road out the city are disappearing.The road isn't a road at all; it's a secret portal. The "merchants" are interdimensional beings who wish to study the inner workings of this dimension, and are constantly taking weird shit that is not common to their world so they can study it.

>>57235496The crusade is against people overusing light. Light that does not come from the sun or stars is a finite resource in this world, and using them too much can put the Church's authority in jeopardy. Because of this, people start turning their lights off at night to avoid persecution, and accidents involving elderly and children skyrocket.

>>57235538The dragon is old and wants to die in a great battle against a honorable warrior. He kidnaps the princess so a brave knight will be his last opponent.

>random average guy gets transported into fantasy world so he can be the chosen one

>>57235448>charming bard who is loved by everyoneIs actually a member of a mysterious faction/race that isn't known to anyone. His/her good looks, seemingly heroic feats and fine etiquette makes people trust them.

>There is an underground parallel civilisation of surface species (Drow, Derro, etc)

>>57234112Isn't actually a shitposter, is just uncreative and gets upset when others can think outside of the box for fun.

>>57235564Isn't actually a chosen one, it's all just an experiment by a highly advanced civilization to see how someone from another world would react and if the average can be pushed to greatness when encouraged or if it's just something in only certain people.

>>57235585The janitor accidentally broke the mcguffin years ago, but to cover it up the trials are now basically impossible death traps to drive people away. If no one can actually get it, no one has to know.

I'll bite. The spirit realm is to blame. Furries are to speak for the animals. They are selected champion specimen brought up through an act of collective spirit of an animal gathering to better fight or parley with sentient species. They do not reproduce and posses alien instinctual patterns of behaviour.

>>57236109>ElvesJolly tiny folk making toys and sometimes more useful gifts and giving them out to strangers and friends alike. They are pure like Christmas spirit, not like noble haughty assholes. Craftsmen more often than super spellsword soldiers.

>>57235931>all undead are evilThere's only one undead, Derrep the skeleton, and yeah, he's a total dick. He refuses to share his secrets of unlife.

>>57236207Racism is based on past atrocities committed by the other races on humans in a past conflict>>57236247Big Bad requires new recruits to complete a ritual that changes the goon's face and body to resemble the first one to join his cause as a sign of giving up on one's own goals to be of service to Big Bad

>>57236109Medieval classics.>>57236170The "ancient god" is basically a sentient artefact created by the ancient civilization to power their entertainment and trade center, it can create food and some comfort stuff.>>57236207You mean racist? Or an empire of human race?> racistElves are even worse> race'sThey are like Japanese empire - a small somewhat isolated archipellago. They just don't know other humans exist.

>>57236522The 'princess' was a prince in drag, avoiding the duty he would otherwise have of taking the throne. Upon discovering this, the dragon tries to get rid of him by asking a ransom. He keeps lowering the demands to try to get the disappointed king to take his son back.

>>57236751>Undead skeletonsThe dwarven necromancer couldn't find any skellies to raise in prison, so he cut these bad boys from limestone floor and animated the remains of the ancient calcified microorganism shells within.

>>57237428Bunch of wizards were casting a mass ritual to try and catapult everyone into a golden age. The spell back fired, wiping out a large portion of civilization, draining much of the natural magic that is harnessed to create artefacts and the world is just now starting to right itself back to it's natural course.

>>57237942>>The princess/prince is on the run from their evil father.Allegedly because their father is an insensitive asshole who wants to marry her to an ugly foreign dignitary, but actually she's stolen something magical from the king that has been propping up his reign

>>57237942>The princess/prince is on the run from their evil father.That is, their biological father - an evil god of debauchery and savage frenzy, and not the king who just wants to put the princess/prince in a dungeon for the kingdom's safety.

>>57230475>Magical healing exists but some reason people still practice herbalism and non-magical means of healing.Each person has a natural state where their humors are in balance. When one receives a physical injury, the humors imbalance to reflect this deviation from the natural state. Likewise, imbalanced humors can surface as physical illness in the body. Natural healing occurs by slowly rebalancing humors, but serious injuries/illnesses can self-propagate, outpacing natural healing. Magical healing forcefully rebalances humors, but is risky since a change too drastic could cause the body to undergo shortcuts in the healing process, such as the creation of tumors or mutations, or even cause the body and humors to outright reject each other, leading to instantaneous death. In addition, some ailments are intrinsic to the natural state, such as birth defects, aging, cancer, allergies, immune system problems, and unknown afflictions. Injuries that have already healed, are assimilated into the natural state, even if they healed incorrectly. The only way to magically heal such injuries is to cut them open and try again.

>>57230406>20+ different races of non-human humanoids existing equally with humans and being commonplace.Hard mode, explain the furry races without resorting to "A wizard/crazy god did it!"There was originally just the Gods and Humanity was a mistake. Having never actually made intelligent life, Humans form the basis of all subsequent life, with the most creative the Gods got being Dragons. All races were an attempt to wipe out humans that either failed or is ongoing.

>>57238307Humans have managed to survive by being crafty and breeding as much as possible. They live much like dwarves in mountain strongholds, scavenging what tech they can from other races when they can.

>>57243012They operate like Unit 731 when it comes to "the hunt". They give prey certain advantages and disadvantages to their chances of survival and observe how they react in response. In their minds they are both fulfilling an age old tradition as well as building a data bank to ensure their survival if they were every to be attacked by another force.

>>57229527>vast desertyou can drink the sand to quench your thirst, but nobody knows

>>57230117>adventurers guildalways locked and empty because even the "staff" are out adventuring.

>>57230231>corrupt vizierexcept every time they try to do something evil, it fails and ends up benefiting the entire kingdom, thus making them seem even more trustworthy.eventually they're made king, and until their dying breath, they tried to drive the kingdom into the ground but instead drove it to becoming paradise.

>>57230406>20+ races living in harmonyit's a fantasy realm, so we'll just say that Affirmative action actually worked somehow

>>57230439>super powerful wizards don't help save the worldbecause they're all in on it.

>>57230463>holding back a bigger threat!but it never actually shows up

>>57230475>magical healing, but no healthcarehealing is outlawed because of big pharma

>>57230561>only the chosen one can stop the plot device!and then somebody else stops it anyway

>>57230603>plot device has a genetic lock that only the hero can usethen it doesn't even work. this is how the hero finds out they're adopted.

>>57230605>retired adventurers never being kings or anyone important despite being demigodsthe god of willpower steals your resolve after you're strong enough to have it worth being stolen

>>57230640>the forest is filled with banditsthere are talking trees that can bear humans like fruit, which is why they have no respect for concepts like "personal property"like a dragon/goblin relationship

>>57230657>the coins are made of precious metalsthey're worth more as metal than they are as coins, yet nobody ever considered melting them down

>>57230702>orcs are always chaotic evilcreated as a defense mechanism by the planet to stop humans from overpopulating

>>57243441All of "nature" forms a hivemind with itself, like an alien being. Druids are indoctrinated people sworn to the hivemind, living making sure that nature spreads far and wide so that it can thrive and eventually indoctrinates all sentient life.

>>57243745Necromancy is an incredibly dangerous style of magic, terrifying to behold, and requires the caster to get their hands dirty, but it doesn't actually require binding unwilling souls to skeletons are magically make you evil when you channel it.It is in fact, Humanities greatest asset and all the skeletons and gargoyles you see on those gothic buildings? They're watching out for trouble.

>>57244046The forest dwellers actually live at the lowest level of the forest, in the deepest and darkest woods.Their entire culture revolves around hunting the biggest and baddest monsters in their forest home.

>>57243745>necromancy is evilThe church is reoriented ancestor worship as a bad thing so that consolidated graves can become a thing removing the physical stake land ownership so that folk can be resettled to the benefit of the church/kingdom>ohwaitthatisreallife

>>57244874>elves are immortal/near immortalThey aren't immortal the traits from one generation don't change much from the next. This along with a tradition in which the child inherits the parents name as well as vigorous studies involving there past family members has resulted in outsiders the misconception they are immortal.

>>5723040620 races are all the gods and goddesses could save. Each deity hopped on the "create a cool servitor race" bandwagon at some point, and were horrified when some of these races began committing genocide in their deity's name. A civil war broke out in the very heavens themselves, and now the surviving gods have different realms of influence that their worshippers observe so that almost every culture will have some interest in all of them, and go to great lengths to suppress knowledge of who created what.

>unspoiled ruins, as far as the eye can see! How has nobody made off with their loot already?

There are no large continents in this world, only islands or archipelagos at the most. Their ecosystems were so wildly far apart geographically, and so varied in climate, that the dominant species on each island or chain of islands was very different. Primates were not always the winners of natural selection, and some islands are host to people that evolved from avians, reptiles, etc. People eventually developed sailing and made contact, wars were fought over territory and so on, and now there's a racial diverse empire that includes Humans, Lizardmen, and all that furfag shit.

>Humans are the only species in the world that developed multiple nations; elves or dwarves never fight amongst themselves despite the former being heavily classist and the latter being infamously short-tempered. Hard Mode: Humans have different ethnic groups, non-humans do not.

>>57236751>Undead skeletonsTurns out the soul resides in the bone marrow, though people die and their spirit relaxes in the astral planes for a while they get tricked into reincarnating only to be consciously thrown back into their now bare skeleton, this is infuriating

>>57236646>Aliens come in ships and are superior to humanssuperior is a relative term that the aliens use without understanding the native language, it leads them into an 'El Dorado' style 'we are gods' journey on the planet until the locals find out they are just kids on an alien spring break

>>57238307>Everything prefers the taste of human flesh, why aren't humans extinct?much like humans have done with livestock and poultry, it turns out that humans are actually adventuring in free range human meat farms

>>57243796>The birdlike beastfolk are all mystical and shitit turns out mysticism is linked to a certain part of one's brain and the birb folk's brain is mostly comprised of it. They are terrible at almost everything else

>>57245233>Animated Skeletons that can't use magic but are still able to speak without vocal chordsit takes an immense amount of time for a skeleton to learn how to rub bones and teeth together to mimic basic human speech, some skeletons get really good at it

So, since we're running out of new things to subvert, what do you fa/tg/uys always subvert? How? What do you always play straight?

To use a few from this thread:>Evil vizier...genuinely cares about and respects the royal family, and always has. Doesn't make them any less of an evil shit to everyone else, though.

>Untouched ruins everywhereThey're recently made, and in the middle of a magically-blasted wasteland that's generally awful to travel into, because food rots in hours or days, people grow old and withered in months, there's undead and worse still out there, and all more.

>20+ different racesThe creator's servants were given unclear and conflicting instructions on what exactly to populate the world with, so they just made everything in hopes of getting what they were actually supposed to make.

>Necromancy is evil / Undead are evilOnly if you don't follow certain religious procedures to actually request an unworthy soul be sent to you so you can help them become worthy of an afterlife.Unfortunately, this requires a lot of paperwork and a good, legitimate reason for every last skeleton, which most necromancers don't bother with, so they just steal souls instead.

>Magical healing is readily available but traditional medicine/herbalism existsMagical healing closes cuts and fixes bones instantly, but most holy healers can only put out one or two spells a day. Traditional medics work alongside healers to make sure that the wounded don't die while the healer is praying for more jesus-juice.Furthermore, magical healing only treats injuries. Herbalists and alchemists treat the everday ills of men, with things like hangover cures and invigorating teas.

>>57247241>Dire rats in the sewersThey are an essential party of the subterranean ecosystem. Without them constantly consuming waste the back-up will cause the sewage to flood out into the city during the next rain storm leading to plaque and disease.

>>57247241The "dire rats" turn out to be the ratfolk servant staff of the mayors estate.They got wind of his illegal activities and humanoid smuggling operation and he hired you thinking you'd just murder them.

Upon activation an old man with an hour glass appears. He is the god of evil's awakening and must now fulfill his purpose of giving rise to the great beast whom resides at the other side of the continent. The old man is unstoppable but walks at a very slow pace, needing periodic moments of rest because his "knees aren't what they used to be". The party must now make preparations over the span of a year or two before he reaches his goal.

>>57249628>Kobold Dragon CultWhatever town they last visit is attacked by a dragon not long after. They opperate as emissaries asking for donations of gold and riches to keep the dragon pacified, in honesty they don't want people to be harmed but they are always turned away or attacked outright because they are Kobolds.

The villain purposefully sought out and recruited one of the hero's childhood friends for exactly that reason. Friendship doesn't mean as much as money to them.

>The ability to teleport magically is easy to do, has been possible since before humans discovered fire, and one wizard can teleport other people wherever they want with no risk, but the the wheel and the horse-drawn carriage were both still invented

>>57250473That's how fate works sometimes, the predestined heroes of legend had to be put there by the gods to go against the will of a god - this time it was just the same god. Maybe the previous evil god was slain by heroes, and the one who knew they were the next evil god tried to avoid the fate by arranging their death at the predestined time, and became an evil god because they were trapped in a statue for thousands of years and that frustration boils over. When you have predetermination actually predetermine things that's how it ends up sometimes.

>>57251741They are racist against each other going back to when the religion competed against each other for primary tribe. They have been recruiting outsiders (their trading partners) so the primary tribe can eliminate the others permanently.

>>57251780Humanity created the giants to fight in wars, placing human minds inside the heads of the giants. At the end of the war the fail-safe took effect and the rapid aging began. But the mental deterioration has been stronger, allowing for physically fit but touched giants that in their dementia spells relive the bloody conflict.

The Lizardfolk are pompous imperialists with a strict caste system and are based on a mix of Chinese and Middle Eastern cultures. They're basically standing in for the High Elves.

>DivinityOriginalSin2.jpg

The Lizardfolk are a proud warrior race with a vaguely native american-ish culture. They're staunch allies of the local human tribes, but oppose the elitist human empire to the west. They live underground because they're cold blooded. They also make great blacksmiths. They're basically standing in for the Dwarves.

Giants are solipsistic, so they believe that all knowledge is meaningless. They are actually pretty wise and insightful, but consider the pursuit of science and/or magic pointless. They're so much bigger than everyone else that they've never faced a challenge that would make them think otherwise.

>Every country in the world is a racially homogenous. There are only "dwarf countries" and "human nations", there isn't even a single country that was founded by a multi-racial group, even if the setting has non-humans living in human cities and vica-versa.

>>57251317Certain people evolved to be naturally resistant to magic, this makes teleporting them impossible.

>>57251352The first level heros were idiots and honestly weren't going to do much in the grand scheme of things.

>>57251514It's nothing but illusion magic to hide an older woman who figured out she gets better tips looking young. She's close to retirement at the rate she's going.

>>57251688The artifact itself was sentient and used it's own power to control it's own fate.

>>57251741They have been pulled out of the past from before they developed civilization due to a calamity that wiped out current day lizardfolk. The group who did this hope to jump start their development to bring back this now extinct race.

>The evil lich doesn't just send his strongest units or merely overwhelm the heros with sheer numbers once they disrupt a couple plans.

Easy access to FTL travel combined with larger populations due to improved standards of living mean that you can, essentially, treat individual planets the way you would treat a village, and solar systems as countries in terms of scale. A single solar system might contain an urban planet, a farm planet, a luxury goods planet, etc. Large solar systems can have even more specialized planets like entire planets for weaving cloth or for metallurgy.

>All linguistics assume a human viewpoint even when the language being spoken wasn't invented by humans in-universe. If an elf and a human have a child, that child is called a Half-Elf, not a Half-Man. Despite the fact that the sapient rodent people who walk on two feet and can speak are actually the same size as dwarves, they're still referred to as RatMEN.

>>57252146>All linguistics assume a human viewpoint even when the language being spoken wasn't invented by humans in-universe. If an elf and a human have a child, that child is called a Half-Elf, not a Half-Man. Despite the fact that the sapient rodent people who walk on two feet and can speak are actually the same size as dwarves, they're still referred to as RatMEN.Easy. These are all human terms, in Elvish the word for Half-Men means "Sub-Elf", and in Dwarvish the term for Ratmen means "Those Who Wear Gloves Inside Out", nobody knows why. Linguists assume that it's just folk etymology and the word is actually derived from a name of an ancient tribe of Ratmen, though some researchers suggest alternative versions [Ulfgar Thunderbeard et al.].

>>57234385>Only according to the corrupt nobility backing the resistance forces. In reality he is rooting out traitors to the country who would gladly sell the kingdom to the empire next doorGo to bed loghain

The earth is alive, possibly also the semi-living corporeal body of the creator god.

>>57252474It's leftover ruins of an ancient space elevator which was repurposed as a data uplink between a the world's designer and administrator and the world's inhabitants.

>>57252021It's only recently that travel across regions previously thought impassable was made possible. There's vast swathes of no-man's-land around every nation, and no one's thought of colonizing it yet.

>>57252070The lich is winging it most of the time, and his army gathering had to be put on hold to keep the heroes off his trail.

>>57252687What started as a novelty item or southerner ceremonial armor became mainstream stuff of legends when it was found to be capable of holding in a previously unthought of amount of enchantments.

>there are inexplicable treasure chests in supposedly natural dungeons, city sewers, pretty much anywhere that isn't a conventional dungeon.

>>57253371>there are inexplicable treasure chests in supposedly natural dungeons, city sewers, pretty much anywhere that isn't a conventional dungeon.Cause... that's where people usually hid treasures?

>>57253371Mimics plant real treasure chests everywhere to lure adventurers into a false sense of security, so they won't question it when they finally come across a random chest behind a waterfall but uh-oh! They got eaten this time.

>Fantasy/Magic serves as near-perfect retextured stand ins for modern day conveniences.

>>57252549 This is basically the excuse Warhammer goes with. Total Warhammer 2 has a throwaway line in the Lizardmen campaign intro that "Lizardmen" is just a term the humans came up with.

>>57252687Magical energy is conducted better through flesh and bone than through metal or leather. Because of nudity taboos, female spellcasters aren't able to walk around completely topless, but covering their breasts with cloth would weaken their magical forcefield armor, so they wear regular armor only over the naughty bits.

>The most important part of the world, where all the world-threatening villains and world-saving heroes come from, is always in the north eastern hemisphere of the world with an ocean to the east, snowy lands to the north, steppes to the east, and desert/jungle to the south.

The people in the fantasy universe are basically the same as us, and desire similar luxuries. It's easy enough to cast a spell that creates a shield against rain that no one bothered inventing the raincoat.

>Normal earth animals like wolves and bears haven't been wiped from the ecosystem even though they share it with more powerful predators like dinosaurs, griffins, manticores, etc.

>>57253479domoticomancy is one of the greatest and most ancient school of magic>>57253371they are actually dormant mimic that get their stomach full. The treasure is their poo>>57253723there is actually one continent

>>57253831The constant incompetence and betrayals are just a facade to lull the other civilizations in a false sense of security while they await the awakening of their legendary messiah that will lead them to conquer the world.

>There's a billion different elf subraces but only one type of dwarf, one type of lizardman etc.

>>57253964The old wise man was the main villain all along. He was doing in for shit and giggles, but turns out he trained the hero too well.

>Sci-fi: the objectively good guys are literally Space America. If the human race has become unified every sign of cultural diversity is gone, everything has become Space America. Even if the story is set thousands of years in the future and by all logic human culture should've evolved into soemthing unrecognizable, it's still Space America.

>>57254234USA is controlled by a sinister secret society that believes that it's destiny/historical inevitability that USA will dominate the whole globe. They eventually acquire immortality and start working towards maintaining cultural status quo, despite hindering factors like different planetary biomes or great interstellar distances.

>Sci-fi: evil faction inexplicitly replicates the ideology and aestethics of Hitler's germany, despite fact that they are from another planet hundreds or thousands years to the future

>>57254024>queen (male) hires adventuress (male) to save the princess (male) from the dragoness (male) after she was kidnapped just before her wedding to her betrothed fiancee (male). But thanks to the witch (male)'s dastardly plot, it turns out the whole thing was a trap.

>>57254572The evil faction is doing this because some of the first transmissions they received from Earth thousands of years ago were Hitler's speeches, and thus they consider him a wholly sacred ancient prophet.

>>57255432The reason for all high tech things being destroyed or evil is because they were made by demons, who both like to destroy things and be evil.

>Sidenote: I love the premise of this thread, and I regularly do this sort of thing myself. I actually wrote a pretty decent blog post about it that i'll go ahead and link if anyone is interested.http://draconick.com/2017/11/13/trope-inversion-and-you/

>>57251921Most beastfolk have more animalistic gods, and believe emulating their gods makes the gods view them more favorably.

>>57245111Humans are the only ones to revere and worship a god of war, and while most of the time he keeps to himself, oftentimes when he demands a war game, humans choose to war amongst themselves rather than break down good relations with other races.

>>57257941Summonable races exist in a state of flux between material and immaterial. Summoning is a forced act, pulling them away and trapping them in the material realm for a given amount of time. Once someone has the ability to summon a creature they can do so as many times as they want (save for limitations like how many times you can summon per day). The creature realizes this invasion of privacy and will attempt to kill the summoner but if bested will become compliment. Think how terrifying it would be to be pulled from your house to a random field just to get your ass kicked 3 times a day every day, you'll begin to do what the guy says not too long after.

>>57255569i-is this a cliche?>>57255432"high tech", is just the technology that remains from before the war took us back to the stone age. For the most part, the only real traces of the before the war are weapons. Most of the infrastructure and information was destroyed while a huge amount of weapons were produced due to the war's scale.

>>57258353 The elements in the scientific sense (hydrogen, etc) don't exist; All substances in the universe are made of the elements in different combination. Elemental magic is basically "atom smashing". You disturb the balance of the elements and a discharge of one of the four is summoned.

I won't even take credit for that, since that's basically what people thought was true in ye olde days. That's basically the line of thinking that the concept of the elements came from anyway IRL.

>>57257941The primary casting method that humans have was stolen from dragons, after observing and studying their breath weapons. People go around vomiting out their spells to channel the magic, shooting Fireballs like Charmanders, puking out Create Food and Water spells, and such. It requires a strong gut.

>>57258833There is a universal curse upon royal women from an old age of Gods which curses Princesses to become Evil when they become Queen. Court intrigue has gotten very complex and many Princesses who wish to remain good will do everything they can to not become Queen. Others who hate that they are incapable of evil actively seek the position.

>>57259527Magically compressed air to form structures while maintaining a relevant weight allowing it to fly. They are highly unstable.

>>57260074they're the spectators of this world. And sometimes, like unruly spectators, they throw beer bottles or peanuts at us, either because they dislike something that we do, or just to make things more interesting. Sometimes, but rarely, when they do like what we do, they throw roses at us.But those beer bottles, bricks, peanuts and roses, they're all eldritch stuff, and some might be living - and some might be sapient.

>>57253857bears and wolves, while not as powerful as monsters, are much more efficient at survival/breeding. There are places in the deep woods where even manticores fear packs of fey-influenced wolves.

>>57260439Elves are literal fruits. The trees are their parents. Pregnant elf women give birth to saplings. The Elves live in the forest for the same reason most humans lived in the same village as their parents: convenience.

>The good people live in the pretty looking place, and the bad people live in the scary looking place.

>>57230475>>Magical healing exists but some reason people still practice herbalism and non-magical means of healing.

Top tier healing spells require the same level of expertise as a world class surgeon. The results are perfectly healed wounds and recipients are immediately battle ready.

High tier healing spells require the same level of expertise the average doctor would have. The results are well healed wounds and recipients are battle ready but the wounded areas are still tender.

Medium tier healing spells require the same level of expertise a nurse would have. The results are sufficiently healed wounds and recipients are battle ready as long as they don't stress the healed areas.

Low tier healing spells only require basic first aid knowledge (Basic first aid knowledge is beyond most people. Most people don't know how to perform CPR after all.) The results of these spells are crudely healed wounds that are prone to reopening or getting worse.

All healing spells also require basic first aid to be applied before being cast. Wounds need to be cleaned, broken bones require being set, and bleeding must be stopped.

People still practice herbalism and non-magical means because it works. Magic healing at low levels is meant to stabilize wounds, not instantly heal them. As the spells get more and more potent, the stabilization gets better and better.

>>57261871Two warring factions placed a curse on each other, the "good" guys are mostly into being lazy and playing games but the curse forces them to decorate, clean, and otherwise beautify the place. The "bad" people are actually really into rustic, comforting decor but they were cursed to never clean and perpetually burn things and decorate with corpses. They still don't get along.

>>57262459Monsters are literally born of darkness, and the weakest ones fade away in the daylight.For the strongest ones, it chars and toughens their hides, sets their blood boiling, and sets them alight.

>>57230475Early attempts at healing magic, while functional in the short term, leave little pockets of life energy in the patient which would cause complications like tumors, extra extremities, or "twin resurrection", a somewhat painful event where a previously absorbed twin was resurrected and conjoined with the patient.In comparison, herbalism, surgery and some subsects of shamanistic healing were considered more reliable and less risky, despite being less effective.While healing magic has advanced sufficiently, the stigma has remained strong and many still dread having to visit the town healer to treat their injuries.

>>57263384Plague Doctors were first founded by a dwarven royal doctor after half the hold he worked in fell victim to a plague. Today, Plague Doctors of all walks of life dedicate their work towards preventing plagues and epidemics, spreading the word of cleanliness and healthy habits in an effort to incite people to do their part in warding off plague.The bird-beaked masks are worn as a first line of defence against diseases and are enchanted to the gills with various pathogen detectors.The mask's shape is purely to spite a notorious bioterrorist who wore the selfsame mask whenever spreading the plague of the day.

>blessed weapons look fancy and pure and usually radiate a colorful aura while evil weapons look vicious and violent and usually have a living eye or two.